The naval port
The arsenal covers an area of 117 hectares.
Controlled by an entrance channel 64 metres wide, the naval port has three docks: the outer harbour, known as the Napoléon Dock, the Charles X Dock and the Napoléon III Dock.
Napoleon, having "resolved to recreate in Cherbourg the marvels of Egypt", ordered the construction of a first class dockyard.
In 1899, it found its true vocation: specialising in building submarines.
In 1967, the "Redoutable", the first French nuclear-powered submarine, was launched, and
Cherbourg has since become one of the foremost shipyards in the world for submarine design and production. |
|  |  |  | | The Arsenal was set up between 1740 and 1858 and built sailboats, then propeller-driven vessels until the end of the 19th century.
From 1898 onwards, it specialised in submarine construction, the first examples being the Morse and the Narval.
Since then, more than 90 submarines have been built at the yard. |
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